Technology Task Force

May 2011

Process for Requesting/Prioritizing New Technology Projects

In accordance with the authority granted by College Council on October 11, 2007, Technology Task Force will serve two important roles relative to the process for requesting and prioritizing new technology projects. First, Technology Task Force will make itself available to serve as a sounding board for De Anza faculty and staff who have a new technology project request, need, or idea. Second, Technology Task Force will serve as the prioritization committee for periodically prioritizing the De Anza College projects on Educational Technology Services’ (ETS) master New Technology Projects list.

Sounding Board Role

De Anza faculty and staff may opt not to use Technology Task Force as a sounding board and go directly to ETS’s new technology project request process, described below, but utilizing Technology Task Force as a sounding board may offer many benefits to De Anza faculty and staff. These include but are not limited to:

Finding out that there is already another De Anza-supported tool currently available that can meet the need described

Finding out that the relative costs and benefits of the particular project proposed do not strike the members of the Technology Task Force as compelling enough to make prioritization and completion of the project likely in the current budget environment

Getting advice and suggestions on how to research and/or present the project in the most favorable light when going through ETS’s new project request process, thus maximizing the chances for adoption and implementation

Bringing the members of the Technology Task Force up to speed on the benefits of the proposed project, so that when the next prioritization cycle occurs, the proposed project may receive a high ranking

Project Prioritization Role

Educational Technology Service (ETS) is currently in the process of developing a new technology projects request and approval process. ETS approached us in January 2011 and notified us that the process they were envisioning would require some entity at De Anza College to be authorized and available to perform periodic prioritization of the projects that were on ETS’s master list of the requested but not yet started De Anza technology projects. The Technology Task Force proposes that it take on this function. ETS’s current thinking is that this prioritization would be revisited quarterly, but occasional off-calendar additional re-prioritizations may be necessary from time to time. It is the Technology Task Force’s suggestion that these prioritizations be accomplished during the Technology Task Force’s regularly-scheduled monthly meetings.

Since the Technology Task Force is a subcommittee of the De Anza College Council, either College Council or the President of De Anza College could at any time override the prioritization of technology projects as most-recently determined by the Technology Task Force. Each prioritization would be provisional in the sense that it could be overridden by either of these two bodies.

Additional perspective on the proposals Technology Task Force is making in this document can be obtained by laying out the framework of ETS’s proposed process for requesting and prioritizing new technology projects within the district. The following is our understanding with regard to this framework. We endorse this framework. However, please understand that we are proposing that ETS would remain the author and owner of this process, and it is our understanding that they can change the process at any time without our approval or input. We feel that ETS, not Technology Task Force, is the appropriate entity to own this process. By having ownership, ETS will be able to evolve, refine, and improve the process as they gain experience with it.

The completed form must be sent to ETS from a manager’s computer to satisfy the need for managerial support for the project. For the purpose of this process, ETS considers a manager to be a dean/director or above.

ETS adds the project request to their New Technology Projects master list

ETS meets with the requestor and completes the IT Project Evaluation tool.

ETS sends copies of the newly requested De Anza projects to Technology Task Force for review

To review and reiterate one of the roles we are proposing for Technology Task Force, requestors would be able to present their requests to Technology Task Force for feedback and assistance with completing the request form, or requestors could complete the request form themselves and have their manager send it directly to ETS.

This process as we understand it would cover all new IT equipment/systems or new IT functionality projects regardless of funding sources. Examples of recent projects that would have gone through this process are, Tracdat, Parscore, DASB ID card. This process would prioritize ETS labor time only. All current systems and process governing how one obtains budget for a project would be unchanged and unaffected by this process. In order to move forward, a project would need both budget and ETS labor time.